Wu Xia, a working poet, left her hometown at 14 to work on an assembly line in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen. As documented in the award-winning film “The Verse of Us” (2014), she transformed her feelings during those times into poetic expressions. However, her post-documentary life hasn’t unfolded quite the way she had hoped. Leaving the factory, she encountered persistent setbacks in finding writing-related jobs. Determined to stay in Shenzhen, Wu Xia and her parents now rent a house in a nearby workers’ community, trying their best to navigate the escalating costs of city living so as to make ends meet.

Reporters: Huang Zhihan and Chen Canjie; video editors: Huang Zhihan, Lü Xiao, and Jiang Lüyue.